A Harare man appeared before a magistrate after he allegedly swindled former white commercial farmers of over US$25 000 on the pretext that he was a Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officer who could help them recover their former farms.
Kingdom Nyika (53) appeared before Harare magistrate Learmore Mapiye facing four counts of fraud.
Nyika, in connivance with John Chakawanda and John Sakuhuni, committed the alleged crimes sometime between March and September this year.
They claimed to be from the President’s Office working on a government re-engagement programme which would see white former farmers getting their farms upon payment of $1 000 affiliation fee and land levy of US$5 per hectare.
In total, four white former farmers lost thousands of dollars as the alleged criminals used the same modus operandi.